Random Beliefs Meme

Doug Chaplin tagged me with a meme a while back, and for a while I’ve been suffering from meme immunity, but the illness seems to be passing. Or maybe my beliefs just aren’t random enough…No, that’s definitely not it.

Anyway, here are ten random things I believe:

1) I believe music is a symbol of transcendence, pointing us to the way in which complexity produces things that are not simply the sum of their parts.2) I believe that science is the best way of learning about the natural world that is available to us.3) I believe that there are plenty of aspects of life – the moral, the aesthetic, and of course the religious, among others – which, even though science has relevant things to say about them, are not invalidated by the fact that there seems to be more to these types of discourse than science can study and pronounce upon.4) I believe that there is probably life elsewhere in the universe. (As characters in Contact said, if not, it seems like an awful waste of space).5) I believe that we could do more to help education and the level of discourse in the world today if we devote more attention to enabling parents to read to their children while they are still young.6) I believe that everyone can learn a greater number of languages than they have, and that they should.7) I believe that spending time living in another culture teaches you things that you can never learn in a classroom.8) I believe that it is possible to discuss even the most important beliefs we have (as well as the random ones) in a way that helps all those involved in the discussion to learn and benefit from it, rather than merely polarizing the opposing viewpoints through angry rhetoric and the threat of violence.9) I believe some of the same things Doug Chaplin does, but I also believe it would have been boring to mention them.10) I believe that ten random beliefs are too many to list.11) I believe that, looking back at what I wrote above, I should have listed more about my religious beliefs; but lately the focus of my religious life and experience has been much more focused on experience, practice and mystery rather than “beliefs”.12) I believe that Anglicans ought to have to come up with 39 random beliefs.13) I do not believe that 13 is unlucky.14) I believe I have a lot to learn about knowing when to stop. And about counting to ten.

Great beliefs– especially #12. I'm undecided about life elsewhere, myself. It seems probable, like you say, but I don't know if I could live knowing there's life somewhere out there and I'm very likely going to die long before we find it!